In the past, various types of backstops have been used in sports activities. Such backstops permit a ball to be returned to a user or act as boundaries that define when a goal has been made or missed by an opponent. Thus, backstops are an essential part of any sport where they act as a targeting area for one or more players of the sport.
Many examples of backstops exist in a variety of sports. By way of example, backstops are used in basketball (the rebound board behind a hoop), ice or field hockey, soccer, lacrosse (the frame structure and net define the boundaries that let opponent sides know when a goal has been achieved). In other sports, the backstops may be manifested as golf nets for practicing drives. For tennis and badminton nets, the poles either side of a ret between players on opposing sides together with the net define one boundary that the players must navigate. For baseball, a net may be mounted around one or more portions of a field so that when a player wishes to practice slugging the ball the net may be used to stop a flying ball conveniently from exiting a certain area of the field. It will be appreciated that during practice sessions a great number of balls (or pucks) may be used by players who may be practicing their skills, and after a period of time such balls need to be retrieved.
Currently, various devices have been used to collect wayward balls and pucks, which are well known in the art. Various other devices have also been disclosed to return a ball to a player without using many balls. Thus, the features of a backstop device may be modified to enable return of the ball to the player. For example, recently McNulty, U.S. Pat. No. 7,175,548 disclosed a universal position-adjustable backstop net system which is described in greater detail below. In yet another example, one of the applicants of the current disclosure Forlini, U.S. Pat. No. 6,849,009 previously disclosed a practice backstop/net system that was described for use in the game of hockey, but also could be used in various other sports activities. The current disclosure incorporates by reference all material disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,849,009.
While the above-described disclosures describe various devices and methods relating how one or more wayward balls may be conveniently returned to one or more players, the current applicants has found that these devices and methods may be improved.